Showtimes & Tickets Enter Zip Code:

FLOATING WEEDS (1959)
Directed by: Yasujiro Ozu.
Produced by: Masaichi Nagata.
Written by: Kogo Noda & Yasujiro Ozu, based on the 1934 Tadao Ikeda script.
Director of Photography: Kazuo Miyagawa.
Edited by: Toyo Suzuki.
Music by: Kojun Saito.
Language: Japanese with English subtitles.
Country of Origin: Japan. 119 min. Not Rated.
With: Ganjiro Nakamura, Haruko Sugimura, Machiko Kyo, Ayako Wakao & Hiroshi Kawaguchi.
DVD Features: Commentary by film critic Roger Ebert. New digital transfer with restored image & sound. Trailer. New English subtitles.

A STORY OF FLOATING WEEDS (1934)
Directed by: Yasujiro Ozu.
Written by: "James Maki" & Tadao Ikeda, based on the 1928 American film The Barker.
Director of Photography & Edited by: Hideo Mohara.
Both versions released by: Criteron Collection.
Language: Japanese with English subtitles.
Country of Origin: Japan. 86 min. Not Rated.
With: Takeshi Sakamoto, Choko Iida, Hideo Mitsui, Rieko Yagumo & Yoshiko Tsubouchi.
DVD Features: Commentary by Japanese-film historian Donald Richie. New score by silent-film composer Donald Sosin. New digital transfer with restored image & sound. New English subtitles.

Floating Weeds and A Story of Floating Weeds depict the same moving story - an aging, traveling actor returns to a remote village where he secretly meets his former lover and her illegitimate son, to whom the older man is “uncle.” He’s the manager of a kabuki troupe - the aimless flotsam of the title. His current mistress, filled with jealousy because of his attachment to his secret family, tries to get back at him by deploying a game of seduction. Far from melodramatic, these bittersweet films are directed with Yasujiro Ozu’s characteristic restraint. Almost always static, each beautifully composed shot could stand alone as a photograph.

In A Story of Floating Weeds, a black-and-white silent film, scenes that reflect the historical times of Japan - the houses, village life, and stage performances - are like an encyclopedia of Japanese culture to the foreign viewer, a typical attraction of Ozu's films. The commentary by Donald Richie, a Japanese film historian and writer of Ozu, compares this "new simplicity" to other Ozu films, explaining in detail the director’s intentions in making this film and the artistic advancements he made in doing so.

In Floating Weeds, in color and with sound, the character have more depth. They speak in a Kansai accent, which brings out a casual lightheartedness that could not be detected in the original, and the dialogue makes this film more energetic rather than subtle, as in the earlier version. Accordingly, emotions are more explicit. The major difference between the two films, however, is the portrayal of the abandoned mother. She is more accepting in the later version. Though both films share almost identical sequences and compositions, much is modernized in Floating Weeds, such as girls winking to gain attention or men sunbathing.

The changes are further explained in the commentary by Roger Ebert, who applauds the beauty, simplicity, and consistency of Ozu’s work. Ebert admits he is no expert on the director; he analyzes each scene, often crediting other critics. His commentary is an excellent primer, especially those new to Ozu. Hazuki Aikawa, journalist, director of the documentary Yancha
August 11, 2004